Julian Bond helps Hillary cry more crocodile tears

First she tried to guilt the DNC into getting her delegates. Then, Ted Olson speculated that Hillary would be willing to sue for the delegates (which may still happen). Today NAACP president Julian Bond weighed in, on Hillary's side: (HT -- Bryan Preston)

A prominent civil rights leader has told the Democratic National Committee that refusing to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan would disenfranchise both states' minority communities.

In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed “great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted.” Refusing to seat the states' delegations could remind voters of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” he said.

The DNC penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules. Both states were stripped of their delegates, and the party's presidential candidates signed a pledge not to campaign in either state. Florida lost all 210 delegates, including its superdelegates; Michigan, 156.

Since then, facing the prospect of a drawn-out delegate battle with Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has pushed hard for both states' delegations to be seated. Clinton won Florida's primary Jan. 29 and Michigan's Jan. 15, but was the only candidate to appear on the Michigan ballot after the other candidates removed their names.

Lord knows why Julian Bond is even getting involved in this. He claims it's all for "minority rights." But the simple fact of the matter is that the DNC punished states that jumped ahead of their schedule. EVERY other candidate abided by the punishment, stayed out of the states, and removed their names from the ballot. Everyone except Hillary. Now facing a prospect that she might lose the nomination, she's pulling out the stops to have those delegates seated. I'm sure at the heart of the matter for her are the superdelegates that were taken away. She seems to think she has the nomination sewed up with those delegates.

Bryan weighs in with this in closing to his post:

But think about it. Suppose the NAACP persuades the DNC to seat those delegates, thereby handing the nomination to…Hillary. Could Bond be doing this to keep Barack Obama from blasting all the old race baiters and mau mauers into political oblivion by doing something that they never could, and without their help? Is Julian Bond that cynical?

Julian Bond doesn't do anything without a reason, and a win-win scenario for him. He could very well be doing this because he sees Obama as a threat to the NAACP's rhetoric and plans for the future. He does love stirring up crowds, and he does seem to enjoy the race-baiting that the NAACP pushes. IF his desire is to see the status quo preserved, Obama is a threat to him, and Hillary would maintain the way things are. While he says he won't endorse a candidate, his "assistance" in this matter clearly shows that he is in the bag for Hillary.

Publius II